The present invention relates to a textile tube support device having position indicating means and, more particularly, a textile support device for supporting a tube in an upright disposition and having indicating means for indicating the presence of the tube support device at a predetermined location.
It is known to transport tubes on which yarn packages are built and to transport empty tubes on a plurality of tube support devices. One known transport device is configured to transport the tube support devices to a predetermined location for a tube transfer operation in which, alternatively, tubes having yarn packages built thereon or empty tubes are transferred from the tube support devices to a further handling device or tubes having yarn packages built thereon or empty tubes are transferred onto the tube support devices. In this known device, the tube support devices are of the type having an upright member for snugly receiving a tube inserted thereon to support the tube in an upright disposition during transport of the tube.
As can be understood, the upright member of a tube support device undergoing a tube transfer operation must be relatively precisely positioned with respect to the tube transfer device to insure that the tube transfer device can reliably insert a tube onto, or remove a tube from, the upright member. In this regard, it is known to use mechanical or optical sensors for detecting the position of an upright member relative to the tube transfer device. However, operating conditions such as, for example, the dust and debris which is invariably present in the textile environment, negatively influence the sensing capabilities of such mechanical and optical sensors. As a result, the upright members of the tube support devices cannot be reliably positioned with respect to the tube transfer device.
Additional difficulties arise with the transport of tubes in that it is difficult to automatically distinguish between those upright members which are supporting empty tubes and those upright members which are supporting tubes having yarn packages built thereon since, in both cases, the upright members are identical. However, it is beneficial to have the capability to distinguish between those upright members supporting empty tubes and other upright members supporting tubes with yarn packages thereon in certain textile processes. For example, one textile process involves the supplying of an empty tube only to every other upright member which is transported past the tube transfer device. In such a textile process, it would be advantageous to have the capability to distinguish among the upright members to identify those upright members which are to receive an empty tube.